Sam Allardyce punched the air, while his entire backroom staff - and there are a few of them - jumped on his back in wild euphoria.

Beating Birmingham at home, courtesy of a dramatic last-minute winner, has never meant so much.

If tangible relief is your thing, then St James' Park was the place to be at ten to five yesterday. A relieved Allardyce admitted victory means his side have now clearly turned a corner, ending a sixgame winless run.

That cannot be denied. A point against Arsenal created momentum and Habib Beye's monumental strike, coming in the 91st minute, will buy time and some Tyneside calmness that Allardyce desperately needs.

How his backroom staff recognised the significance of the late strike. Newcastle have found the energy levels Allardyce requires, they have also found a bit of heart in the midst of a run that had yielded two points from 18 before Birmingham arrived in Toon.

But they cannot keep their finger off the self-destruct button. They held out only until the ninth minute before volunteering their customary gift to visiting forwards.

Along, hopeful ball from Rafael Schmitz found David Rozenhal dithering.

Cameron Jerome took the ball past the Czech defender and then around Shay Given before sliding it into an empty net.

After the bravado of a midweek result which suggested Allardyce had got his players right where he wanted them, it was a disastrous and inexplicable start.

Still, it ultimately galvanised his team.

That is not to take credit from Alex McLeish's men, who were well organised and efficient - a kind of Premier League Scotland. That of course means there is heartbreak to go with bravery, and typically it came.

Allardyce deserves credit for a brave substitution. Nicky Butt had suffered stomach cramps in midweek and when he was withdrawn with a groin problem after the half hour, Newcastle threw on Mark Viduka and went for broke.

The relentless James Milner shot wide, Charles N'Zgobia - still wasted at fullback - fired over and then in the 36th minute came a penalty which McLeish considered contentious.

On a soaking pitch, Mathew Sadler slid into Oba Martins inside the six-yard box with a challenge that was fine with his left foot, taking the ball, but cumbersome and pointless with his right, flicking out a foot that sent the Nigerian flying.

Martins then fortuitously struck a leftfooted penalty that Maik Taylor could only parry into his goal with a desperately outstretched left hand.

Jerome could have put Birmingham ahead again three minutes later, but from close range on the turn he shot tamely at Given. It was a major miss.

From there, Newcastle took control.

Milner missed from close range and then smashed thewoodwork with a fine drive.

Moments before he created the winning goal, Emre appealed for a penalty when his shot appeared to strike Jerome's arm.

"We have turned the corner," said Allardyce. "We had to get the win on the back of some good performances. It was a monumental effort and a great credit to the lads. We had 14 shots on goal and hit the crossbar twice.

"The fans got behind us and we kept on going and going. In the end we got a quality ball and a quality header and we got three points we richly deserved.

"That should settle us down now. It was pleasing because we built our own mountain to climb. But tremendous credit to the players, we put tremendous pressure on them.

"Beye put in a tremendous game and finished it off with a tremendous header.

It was a really big three points, nothing else mattered" McLeish bore the look of a man who had lost the winning lottery ticket.

"That was cruel, very cruel," he said.

"I do not blame the players, they were terrific.

"The penalty gave them a lifeline they never looked like getting. There was no way Martins was going to get the ball, Ridgewell would have cleared it."